Some Holiday Photos from Kyle's side & Baby News

Hi All,

This past weekend we had an impromptu visit from Kyle's side of the family. We were all supposed to get together Christmas night and Friday but my brother-in-law was sick so we planned a last minute shindig at our house on Saturday. I have several pics to post. Some are better quality than others b/c they were on my phone. I really want to buy this new camera that our Niece Alyssa got for Xmas. It is super small and also does videos. If I get it, the photo quality on our blog will improve immensely.

OK, the first picture is of Rosie with her favorite Xmas present from Uncle John. It is a stuffed Bison. How cute is she???

The 2nd picture I had to take because I just can't resist how darn cute she is!!!! As some of you may know, our living room and dining area are one big room. Whenever I go into the kitchen and Rosie is lying on the couch she always peeks her head out to see what I'm doing and if it involves food!!!! You can also get a pretty good shot of our new TV and the new stand. We LOVE our new TV. I must say that I am enjoying just as much as Kyle. The picture quality is amazing.

The 3rd picture is our niece Alyssa and Rosie. Alyssa Loves Rosie. She brought her Wii with her

and we had fun trying out different games.

Ok, the shot to the left is of Kyle's mom, Caryl. Kyle's sister and her daughter Alyssa made Caryl this awesome breast Cancer ribbon fleece blanket. It is so soft and cozy. I want one!!!! I guess they have all different patterns at Michael's so I may just have to check them out!

The last photo is of Rosie chowing down on her Christmas candy cane from Heather and Alyssa.

Baby News

On the baby front, we are still holding out until we make the "official" announcement but we were notified b4 christmas that we are going to be parents!!!. Once we get the first ultrasound, I'll feel a little more comfortable telling people. I have not told work yet. We are just very cautious b/c there is always the risk of the birth mother changing her mind up to 12 hours after the delivery.

What I can tell you is that the baby is due on 5/11/09 in Kansas. We will have to go to Kansas for about a week. We don't know the sex but we will find out. We have talked to the birth mom on the phone and the conversation went well. She seems very strong in her decision to give her child up for adoption.

I need to vent for a minute about something!!! If one more person asks me, "are you sure you want a baby and not a toddler" I am going to snap. We want a baby. We want to experience all the stages of development for our child. I think some people think that b/c I am disabled I won't be able to care for an infant but I am determined to prove them wrong. I am a fighter and when I put my mind to something I can do it. There is a ton of adaptive equipment out there and I plan to utilize it! We plan to modify a crib and buy other things that disabled mothers have suggested. I know many women with less function that me that have raised multiple children. I am also blessed to live near family and they will be an amazing support system. Will there be limitations? Yes, of course. I realize that the first year will be the hardest and that I most likely won't be able to go anywhere alone with my baby but I am ok with that. We want to be parents and we will do whatever we need to. Sorry but I needed to vent. I just get tired of the prejudice out there. If I were able to have my own child would people still say these things?

Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We have so much love in our hearts to offer a child.

Baby It's Cold Outside

We hope Santa was good to everyone this Christmas. We had a great day and are enjoying our time off from work. Kyle had Christmas Eve off and this year we spend Xmas eve night with my family. We usually go to Kyle's aunt's in NH but she is no longer able to host due to age and health issues. Therefore we went to my brother's house. It was really fun. All 10 of our nieces and nephews on my side were there and they were so pumped for Santa! My Sister-in-law is an amazing cook so we got to try lots of yummy food and we even got leftovers! Whooo!

Whoops, I almost forgot to explain the first pic here. My sister Maura arrived on Tuesday night at 11:00 pm. Kyle picked her up and she slept over our place. The picture to the left is Maura and I lounging in our bed drinking coffee. We had a great morning. Maura helped me organize our presents and wrap a few things for Kyle. Unfortunately the 2 pics that I'm posting today are blurry but you'll get the gist of them.

Here is Kyle & Rosie with our new TV and the new TV stand. I know it is blurry but you can still see it right?

Overall we had a great Christmas & Christmas Eve. It was so great to spend time with family and friends. Yesterday Kyle was able to spend the majority of the day with an old buddy of his that he had not seen in 3-4 years. There is nothing better that getting together with old friends. We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Winter Wonderland

This past weekend I was housebound for over 2 days b/c of the non-stop snow. It snowed for 2 days strait. I decided to to finish up my Christmas baking and since I had sooo much time on my hand I took pictures. Below are the thumbprint cookies.

Below is the finished product. They are delicious!

Here is the way I wrapped up the bread and cookies. I also made delicious coconut macaroons half dipped in chocolate. We made up some plates for our neighbors and they were happy b/c they were snowed in too!
The last shot is one of Rosie taken a few weeks ago @ my mom's house. It was a really cold day and we visited my mom and my sister Maura. My mom's house is very cold and she has hardwood floors which tend to make it feel even colder!! Rosie would not get comfortable on the cold floors and she was driving me crazy. When my mom went in the other room to watch TV, Kyle, Maura & I played Scrabble. Little Missy decided she had had enough of the uncomfortable floor and Queen Bee parked herself right in my mom's favorite chair. It was the funniest thing b/c until she got in the chair she would not settle down. Once she got comfy she was out like a light. Boy does this dog have a lot of personality!!!

Remember our 42 inch TV that I blogged about? Well we had the furniture/tv stand delivered last Thursday. Thursday night when Kyle got home he took the TV out of the box and put it on the new piece of furniture. He plugged the TV in and there was no power. After spending a great deal of time trying to figure out what was going on he came to the conclusion that we were given a defective TV. Needless to say, we were annoyed. After having that huge box in our office for weeks, we are so ready to have everything set up. We were really looking forward to lounging on the couch and watching movies while we were snowed in. Kyle was going to exchange the TV on Saturday but they were closed due to the snow and were too short staffed on Sunday. We are now planning to go on Xmas eve, just what I want to do on Xmas Eve. Thankfully we both have a light work week. We are both working Monday & Tuesday and are off the rest of the week.

We may have a big adoption announcement coming soon. We are being extra cautious b/c we've had some recent disappointments that thankfully we did not announce. I'm just asking for everyone to please keep us in your thoughts and prayers and as soon as we feel safe announcing it we will. Ok, so lots of prayers please and hopefully 2009 will be the year we are finally parents.

For Moriah

Here is the entertainment center we are getting but for now we just bought the bottom piece. We can't afford to buy all the pieces at once and we don't have the room either. I will post pics when it is all set up.

Our Tree

We bought our

Christmas tree last Friday night. When we got it home & Kyle put it in the stand he was disappointed as it was not as full as last year's tree. I knew it would look better once it was decorated and I kept telling him that "every tree need a home." So, the first is a shot of the tree from outside our condo and the other is a close up shot. I think it is so pretty :) Can you believe how expensive Xmas trees are? We paid $45 for this tree. I think $20-$25 is more realistic. I'm wondering if trees are expensive everywhere or just in the Northeast? yuck!

I have not really felt in the Christmas spirit. I have completed 90% of our shopping but since I have not felt like shopping I've mainly bought gift cards. One advantage of buying gift cards is that my spare bedroom is not overloaded with gifts!!!

Kyle and I bought a new 42 inch plasma TV as a joint Christmas gift. Kyle has wanted this for several years. We got a fabulous deal on it for 40% off. It was hard to resist with that price. We also had to buy a new stand because our current TV is much smaller. So, now the new TV is sitting in my office monopolizing the entire room. Ugh! The new stand is being delivered next Thursday so we'll have it all set up by Christmas. We are excited to watch movies on the new cool TV.

Before I close I had to post a picture of Rosie with her Christmas Antlers. She does not look happy but boy is she precious? We love her to pieces :)

Happy Turkey day to all

Hi All,
Just a quick post to share these photos of the 2 pies Kyle made yesterday :) Yes, my hubby can bake!! The one on the right is an Apple pie from the Barefoot Contessa cookbook and the other is Pumpkin. Both were scrumptious. We had a wonderful turkey day w/ my sister's in-laws on Cape Cod. There were 10 of us.

To the right is the pie guy!!

Happy turkey day to all of you. Big hugs,

C, K & R

xoxo

Cool Lego Santa

Last weekend while @ our local mall we spotted this awesome Santa made of Legos. The picture really does not do it justice. Most of our nephews are into legos so we thought this was cool :) Imagine how long this took to build??? Has anyone ever seen anything like this?

Pictures from the last few weeks

Hi All,

I know it has been ages since we last posted. I wanted to share some pictures from last weekend. We had a sleep over with our nieces Lauren and Courtney. They are both 1o & get along great. We went to see the movie "Bolt" because Madagascar 2 was sold out. Then we came back to our condo and made homemade pizza. We then had fun with aunties makeup and then it was time for sundaes. Below are shots from our great time :)

The 1st shot has the girls making the pizza. Yes, Courtney is using my extra wheelchair. They are obsessed with it!!!Here the 3 gals are getting dolled up in aunties bathroom.

The two beauty queens all glammed up!!

Below is a picture of Auntie putting eyeliner on Courtney :)

It's a New Day

Hi Ya'll,

I'm super tired but really wanted to say a quick hello! Things are well and I am still extremely excited about our new President. Did any of you happen to see Oprah this Friday? I am not a big Hip Hop fan but I am loving this song that was on Oprah by Will-I-Am. It is called "It's a New Day" and I had to post a link to the amazing video. Kerri & Aunt Mo I know you'll both LOVE it!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHWByjoQrR8

If I remember correctly he wrote this song either the day Obama was elected or the following day. I am still finding it hard to articulate how much historic election means to me. I guess I am just still in awe. Let me know what ya think of this song?

Here is a quick pic of my mom & I taken today. She is still @ the rehab and is getting out on Tuesday!! Yeah! The great news is that she got a GREAT report from her doctor last Friday and so far she is regaining some of her lost function. We are all so relieved. She has a long road ahead but so far it is looking promising. I would appreciate it if everyone would continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers. She has a tough 6 months ahead of her and we need all the help we can get. I truly believe in the power of prayer as I know it has helped me in my own life.

Ok, so the precious puppy that I am holding in the pic is a therapy dog named "Mona." She visits the rehab with her 12 year old owner who is the most amazing kid every other Saturday!!! The majority of the patients absolutly love seeing her. We just fell in love with Mona!! Although I think that the pic is one of the most horrendous pics I've ever seen of myself I still had to post it. I wanted you all to see precious Mona. You can also see my mom next to me wearing her neck brace which she has to wear for another 4-6 weeks. Yuck!!!

Hope you are all well!! Yeah for Obama. It's a New Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quiet October in the Blog World

Hello Folks,

I can't believe I only had 2 posts in October. October was a crazy month. My mom had major surgery on her neck a little over a week ago and she is now in a rehab. We've been very consumed with visiting her. Thankfully her rehab is less than 3 miles from us so I have been able to see her every day. She will probably be there for most of this coming week. She can't drive for several weeks so we will all be busy helping her out when she returns home.

We had a very low key Halloween. We only had 2 trick or treaters. My allergies have been horrific the past few days so I've been pretty cranky and lathergic and have not wanted to do much. By the way, the 2 pics I posted are of Rosie as a pig for Halloween.

We are still waiting on the adoption front. We've gotten a lot of "no's" and it is very discouraging. If we don't have any luck my the end of this year we may have to think of an alternative plan.

We are both so ready for the election to be over. It has been too long!! I really hope we know who the next President is by November 5th. I hope it isn't so close that we have to do recounts and all that craziness we've dealt with for the last two elections. Ok, off to go find a movie to watch!! Happy All Saints' Day.

This is Why We Love Dogs So Much!!!

Please click on this link below and watch the video on the page! We promise you won't be disappointed!

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/mental-health-2.html

Thanks for sharing Kerri!

Happy 5th B-day Rosie

Rosie turned 5 today. We can't believe it! Boy does time fly.

This past weekend we babysat our niece and nephew and took them to get pumpkins. First we went to our nephew Colin's football game and on the way home we stopped and got pumpkins.

Below is a shot of Michaela and I at the game. I let her get a blue ring pop that made her tongue and lips blue.

Can you see her blue lips??

Above is a shot of Conor right after we bought his pumpkin. He was so excited.

Here are both of the cuties with their pumpkins on my ramp. Notice Conor's tie. He was so excited to go out with us that he wanted to get dressed up. How cute is that?


On Sunday, we went to a local furniture chain, (Jordan's Furniture), Target and then to Kyle's Sister's house. Below is a shot of me with our niece Alyssa

Above is a shot of us playing bowling on the Wii. I love the Wii. It is so fun!

I bought Rosie a special bone that she gulped up in about 1 minute!

Tonight I made Shepherd's pie for dinner. It was yummy but not diet friendly. Yes, I'm still doing WW although I have been slacking somewhat these days.

Hope all is well with everyone!

xoxo

Stewing it Up!!!

Hi All,

We've had a pretty low-key weekend because Rosie has been under the weather. On Saturday morning we headed to our local grocery store, Stop & Shop, to do our weekly shopping and buy the ingredients for the "Nor'easter Beef Stew" recipe (posted last year). My friend John was supposed to come over for dinner so we could start planning a Christopher Reeve fundraiser. Anyway, Rosie had an accident in the grocery store and we were beyond mortified. This has only happened one other time @ Kmart!!! Another horrifying experience!

When we got home, she had the runs.Needless to say, we knew she had something wrong. We decided to cancel our plans that evening with her being sick. We had no idea if we would be cleaning up the condo all day. Caitlin will get together on Sunday w/ John and work on the fund raiser plans. Saturday night we stayed in and played Scrabble. Caitlin beat Kyle in a close game. Cait is addicted to playing Scrabble on Facebook.

Sunday morning we began cooking the beef stew since we had bought everything for it. We feed Rosie a rice and 1/2 her dry food. She is pretty starved, but seems better than yesterday. Kyle has to work this evening so he is staying home w/ the dog while Cait meets up with John at a coffee shop to start planning the fundraiser. This post has a few shots of Cait cooking. It was a group effort but I refused to let Cait take my picture since I had not yet showered. Cait had not showered either but she still let me post the pics. Have a great week.

P.S. Did you all hear about Hurricane Kyle?

P.S.s. Last night we made an apple blueberry crisp and it was FAB! Not diet friendly, especially with the gob of vanilla ice cream on top :)

See the big pot behind Cait? It is filled to the rim with beef stew. Cait wanted to double the recipe. Not sure that was a good idea as we have no room for freezing it in the freezer!

Hello From Vermont

Hi All,

Just a quick hello from Burlington. What a beautiful place! I miss Kyle a lot and wish he was here as I know he'd love it! My co-workers and I are having a good time. We love the Inn we are staying at and the accessible room is fab with a nice King size bed. Love it! So far we've eaten at 2 of the culinary restaurants. Yummo!! The diet is NOT going well here!

I need to take a few more pics of the Inn itself b/c it is really stunning! I'm a little bummed that the foliage isn't more pronounced. My guess is that it will hit peak in a few weeks.

We drove my Lake Champlain and it is so gorgeous. The bummer about being here on a work trip is that you don't get to do all the fun things that you want to because you have to work. I definitely want to come back!

Ok, I'm super tired so I will do a trip recap when I get home but before I close I want to post some very cute pics from Vermont so far.

Ok, the pic of Rose on the bed came out sort of dark but it still captures her cuteness!

Heading to Burlington,Vermont

Hi All,



Just wanted to do a quick post before heading to VT tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn. I'll be there for four days and three night. We are staying at the Vermont Culinary Institute. http://vtculinaryresort.com/photo_gallery/photo_gallery.cfm I'm pretty excited about staying at such a great place. As most of you know, I am a total foodie so it should be good grub. However, I'm still on WW so it will be challenging to stay within my point range. I gained 1.3 pounds this past week so I was super disappointed but the week before I lost 3.3. I just hope I don't gain while away. So far I've lost close to 11 pounds. So, I'm 1/3 of the way there. It is so much harder than I thought it would be. I find it is so much harder to eat well while traveling. I know it all comes down to personal choice and making good decisions but when you LOVE to eat like me it is easier said than done.



Since Kyle will only eat processed food if I leave him to his own vices, I figured I'd be a good wife and cook him something yummy! He requested Homemade Mac & Cheese (my mom's recipe) and of course I could not make it without trying multiple mouthfuls of it. It is soooooooo good but not so good for my diet!!! Of course I had to take a shot of Kyle's dinner because posts without pics are boring :)


The pic is kind of at a weird angle because the dish was on my lap. I was trying to capture how gooey and cheesy it looked. I made it with medium shells and 3 types of cheese.



Ok, the next shot is a recent pic of Rosie next to my gorgeous mums. I had to take another pic of the mums to demonstrate how pretty they are in full bloom. I don't think the pic does it justice but I tried! They are just so pretty.



Ok, I hope everyone has a great week. Big hugs to all!

Beginning to see signs of Autumn

Hello Everyone,

The weather is getting chilly here. This past weekend we bought a beautiful basket of mums for the front of our condo. We always plant flowers in the spring but Kyle never wants to buy fall flowers because he says they don't last long enough. He is the gardening expert b/c he worked at a flower shop to get thru college. Anyway, I finally decided I really wanted some fall flowers so we bought the above beautiful basket @ Home Depot. I really wanted the reddish or pink mums but Kyle loves the orange color b/c it reminds him of fall.

After going to Home Depot we headed to the dog park with Rosie. We had not been in probably a year or more. Rosie absolutely loves going because she can meet new dogs and sniff up a storm. Below is a shot of Rosegirl and Kyle at the park.

Overall last weekend was pretty quiet but very productive! This weekend we don't have much planned. I do need to go to the post office to mail some of our adoption profiles to an adoption agency in Arizona. I HATE going to the post office and put it off at all costs. I even order my stamps online!! Anyway, other than that we don 't have anything big planned for this upcoming weekend.

Before I close, I just want to send positive thoughts and prayers out to all the families that lost someone on 9/11. I can't believe it has already been 7 years. Boy does time go fast. It is still so sad!!! God Bless all those that were touched by such a horrific tragedy.

The Power of Words

I may have posted this before but I thought it was worth posting again. We are still waiting for our little miracle!

Legacy of an Adopted Child

Once there were 2 women who never knew each other.
One you do not remember, the other you call Mother
Two different lives shaped to make you one
One became your guiding star. The other became your sun.
The first one gave you life, and the second taught you to live it.
The first gave you a need for love, the second was there to give it.
One gave you a nationality, the other gave you a name.
One gave you a talent, the other gave you aim.
One gave you emotions, the other calmed your fears.
One saw your first sweet smile, the other dried your tears.
One sought for you a home that she could not provide.
The other prayed for a child and her hope was not denied.
And now you ask me through your tears The age-old question, unanswered through the years.Heredity or environment. Which are you a product of?
Neither, my darling. Neither. Just two different kinds of love.
Author Unknown

How Cute Is This?

How many doggies Can you spot in this picture???

Labor Day Weerkend Already?

Hi All,

As usual the summer has gone by too fast. We are both looking forward to fall though. We have the most beautiful autumn in New England. We are hoping to go away for a weekend in the fall and will take pics for you all to see. Since my cell phone takes pretty good pics I have been better about posting with pictures. I think a blog post with pictures is so much better than one with no pictures at all.
On a different note, I am officially addicted to Facebook. Even more so I am addicted to Scrabble on Facebook. I've been playing against an old friend from high school and she whips my butt ever time. She introduced me to this game called Pathwords. Have any of you heard of it? I am HORRIBLE at it but am determined to get better. It has gotten so out of hand that I was up until 3:00 am last night playing it. Thank God for my laptop! Actually the laptop might be feeding into the addiction b/c if I had to sit up in my chair until 3 am at our stationary computer I would not have done it. Anyway, if any of you know this Pathword game and have any pointers, please share. I think I am going to go to Boarders today and by one of those little books and try to perfect it that way as opposed to playing online with the timer. I get so frazzled as I watch the time running out that I think it hinders my game!!! Ok, I am a certified addict.


Ok, enough about my obsessive habits. Last Sunday we spent the day with Kyle's sister Heather, her hubby and daughter. We went to the Museum of Science in Boston. Kyle and I had not been in years and really enjoyed it. We spent about 3.5 hours there but could of spent an entire day. Below is a shot of Uncle Kyle and our niece Alyssa. It is a little blurry but clear enough for you to get the gist. The spaceship is a replica of the Appolo. They also had a butterfly exhibit that we went to as well (2nd pic). That was super cool to see all the different butterflies. I had no idea that butterflies only live for 2 weeks at the most. Fascinating!

Anyway, that is about it from here.

Summer Pics and Weight Loss Update

Hi All,
The above picture was taken last weekend @ the pool @ our condo complex. We had our nieces Lauren & Courtney (both 10) for a sleepover. It was such a blast. The 4th person in the picture (2nd one in from the right) is my friend Megan who is Courtney's nice on her mom's side. Meg also slept over and we had the best time.

As most of you know, I've been doing Weight Watchers for 6 weeks. I think this is the longest I've ever stuck with it. I am a total yo yo dieter. I know WW works but I always lose my motivation. Not this time. I got weighed today and I lost 2.5 pounds. In total, so far I've lost almost 12 pounds. Yeah! I'm really pumped and feel driven to keep going. So, last weekend I was totally off the diet from Saturday-Sunday. When the girls slept over we had pizza for dinner and delicious sundaes for dessert. I also had a few alcoholic bevs! By the time Monday rolled around, I knew I had to kick butt for the rest of the week if I wanted to have a loss by the big Friday weigh in. I am really psyched that I lost despite the 48 hour binge! I think it helped that I was sick on Monday and did not eat much.

Courtney (L) & Lauren (R) being super patient with Auntie and her need to take millions of pics!

Ok, the shot above was taken for my friend Moriah. She made the earrings that the girls are wearing. Unfortunately the shot is a little blurry. I gave them both these earrings that Moriah made and they really loved them. I also showed them Moriah's website and they loved everything!! In this picture they are lying on our pull out couch. Even though we have a spare bedroom they wanted to sleep on the pullout.

Anyway, we don't have much planned for this weekend. We went out to dinner tonight and our monthly B.J's trip. Tomorrow we may visit Kyle's dad's grave as it is his father's b-day and we have not been there for awhile. I want to have a quiet weekend b/c last weekend was super busy.

Hope all is well. I'm thinking I need to post some more older pics to get ya'll to comment more. I love getting comments-Hint-Hint!

Can You Spot Me?

This is my class picture from 6th Grade. I'm curious how many of you can spot me?

My New Phone Takes Pretty Good Pics!

This is our niece & goddaughter Michaela . She looks so much like me as a child.




Hi All,

Just wanted to share a few recent pictures taken with my new phone. I have to admit that I'm pretty impressed with the quality compared to my previous phone which Kyle now uses.

This past weekend we stopped by my brother's house and snapped the shots below.

This is my nephew Garrett holding a little toad!

Here we are with our nephew Conor. His twin sister is Michaela in the first pic above.

Ok, the above shot is Michaela, her sister Courtney and my SIL Nicole. See Conor in the background?

This weekend we are having our nieces Courtney & Lauren for a sleepover. We are excited! We love having them over. They are just so much fun.

I can't believe we are already in mid-August. Where does the time go?

Last night I drove to Manchester , NH to see my wheeler friend Tammy. I was lost for a good hour and that was super stressful! I will never trust mapquest directions again!!! Once I finally arrived it was so great to see my old friend. I haven't seen her since my wedding 5 years ago. Tammy now lives in Seattle but was in NH visiting family. Although we had not seen each other in so long it was like we just saw each other. I love those friendships where you can just pick up right where you left off! We had a really nice visit and got the great shot below from my phone!

Ok, gotta run and do some laundry.

Hugs to you all.

Love,

C